Top-bearing caster.



D. B. DISS.

TOP BEARING CASTER.

APPLICATION msn nsc.20, 1915.

Paented Sept. 5, 1916.

Hummm ATTORNEY UNITED srarns 'ra'rnfr rr DANIEL B. DISS, OF NEWARK, NEWJERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO UNIVERSAL GAS'IER da FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEWJERSEY, A CORPORATION ,OF NEW JERSEY.

TOE-BEARING CASTER.

` Application led December 20, 1915.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL B. Diss, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Top-'Bearing Casters, ofwhich the following is a speciication.

My invention relates to casters, adapted for use particularly upon heavyarticles of furniture in which the weight to be supported mayadvantageously be borne by a bearing surface with which the upper end ofthe caster pintle engages with a frictional contact permitting relativerotation. In accordance with my invention, the pintle extends through arigid sleeve or tube which is secured at its lower end to a rigidsupporting member or leg-bearing plate which may be attached to thebottom of the furniture. The top end of the sleeve is given an archedformation; an opening is formed in the arch and la rivet is extendedtherethrough and upset so that enlarged portions are provided above andbelow the opening in the arched top. These enlarged portions of therivet or bearing member closely engage the metal of the arched top, andgreatly stiften the same, while the under head or enlarged portion ofthe rivet is provided with a rounded lower surface, constituting ane'liicient, axial or thrust bearing, whereby the weight of the furnitureis transmitted axially to the pintle of the caster. 7With thisconstruction, I preferably provide a spring member which is adapted tofrictionally connect the pintle to the sleeve, to prevent too easywithdrawal of the pintle from the sleeve, while permitting ready`rotation between the pintle and the sleeve. Preferably, the pintle isprovided with a shoulder, or portion of reduced diameter, against whichthe end of a leaf or sleeve spring may engage, to hold the pintle in thesleeve.

In order that a clearer understanding of my invention may be had,attention is here by directed to the accompanying drawings forming partof this application and illustrating certain embodiments of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents my improved caster tted to yanarticle of furniture, the view being partly in section and partly inside elevation, F ig. 2 is a top plan Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

Serial No. 67,710.

view of the caster, and F ig. 3 is a vertical section of the same, thepintle being shown inside elevation.

Referring to the drawings, a caster wheel 1 is shown as rotatablymounted to receive the jaws 2 of the usual horn. The pintle 3 is rigidlysecured to the horn, preferably being provided with a shoulder 4f,resting upon the horizontal portion 5 of the horn. The lower end of thepintle may extend through the portion 5 of the horn and be upset beneaththe same. y The leg-supporting plate 6 comprises a strong rigid diskhaving a number of openf ings 7 therethrough through which screws 8 maybe extended to secure the disk to the lfurniture 9, which may comprisethe leg of a piano or the like. The central opening of theleg-supporting plate is in alinement with the opening l() in thefurniture in which the pintle and its sleeve are to be received, theopening in the leg-supporting plate being, however, of somewhat lessdiameter than the recess 10, as is shown in Fig. 1.

The sleeve or tube 11 is formed of substantial thickness, so as to bestrong and rigid. This is xedly secured to the legsupporting plate,preferably by pressing the lower end of the sleeve 11 about the centralopening through the leg-supporting plate, so as to provide an upperannular shoulder 12 and a lower annular shoulder 13, above and belowplate 6, and closely engaging the same. The upper end of sleeve 11 isgiven an arched top, as shown at 14, the inwardly curved flangescomprising this top having an axial opening therein in which is seatedthe top bearing member 15. The sleeve 11 may be drawn, but is preferablypressed from a pair of sheet-metal members to form half cylinders, theedges of which abut, as is shown at 16 in Fig. 2. A small hole ispunched or otherwise formed `at the center of the arched top 14, and therivet of which the top bearing member 15 is formed extendedtherethrough, this rivet having the enlarged head 17 on the under sideof the opening. The upper end of the rivet is then upset, as shown at18, so that the arched top 14C of the sleeve is reinforced by theenlarged portions of the rivet which closely engage the metal of thearched top on both the under and the upper sides thereof about the holethrough which the rivet was extended.

The bearing portion 17 of the rivet is preferably given a conical undersurface, to form an axial or thrust bearing for the upper end of thepintle, which latter is preferably provided with a corresponding seat 17in which the apex or lower end of portion 17 engages.

The pintle is preferably retained within the sleeve by a spring member,such as 19, which may comprise a split sleeve of resilient metal, thelower end of which is flared outwardly, as shown at 20, to form a flangeSeated within the flange 12 of the sleeve. The upper` end of sleeve 19is curved inwardly to lightly engage the portion 21 of the pintle ofreduced diameter7 this reduced portion being terminated by a slightshoulder 22 on the pintle.

The plate 6, with the sleeve and spring secured thereto being secured'to the furniture, the caster is mounted by forcing the pintle into thesleeve until the upper end of the pintle contacts the top bearing memberand the upper end of the spring comes to rest below shoulder 22. Thepintle is then free to rotate within the sleeve, but is frictionallyretained within the sleeve by the engagement of the upper end of thespring with shoulder 22.

It is obvious that an extremely strong and rigid bearing is formed bythe method of mounting the top bearing member 15 within the arched top14E of the sleeve, the arched top itself being of considerable strengthto resist axial pressure, and the strength of the arch being veryconsiderably reinforced by the metal of the top bearing member. It mayalso be noted that the construction is simple in character and may beeconomically and readily manufactured.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new therein anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows 1. 1n a caster, thecombination of a legsupporting plate, having an opening therethrough, asleeve extending upwardly from said opening, having inwardly curvedflanges at the top, a top bearing member secured between said topflanges, and a pintle adapted to extend through said opening and sleeveinto contact with said top bearing member, substantially as set forth.

2. In a caster, the combination of a rigid sleeve, adapted to bepositioned within an opening in an article of furniture', said sleevehaving an arched top, vwith an axial opening therein, a thrust bearingmember mounted in said opening, with portions of greater width than thediameter of the opening above and below said opening, closely engagingthe metal of the arched top, and a caster pintle extending through saidsleeve into Contact with said bearing member, substantially as setforth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 14th day of Dec., 1915.

DANIEL B. Diss.

l/Vitnesses:

'MERWIN DANIELS.

JOHN H. BROEMER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

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